IBM shipping the first release of the new Lotus Symphony doesn't get as much attention as Google changing a setting in Google Docs. Oh well.
Until today, the OpenOffice-based Lotus Symphony software had been in beta. I've been using it on my notebook computer that runs Vista. I'd like to use it on my desktop computer, but it run Windows 2000, and Symphony is limited to the XP and Vista varients of Windows -- as well as several varients of Linux.
The package consists of a word processor, spreadsheet, and PowerPoint-like slide program. The user inteface of Symphony is very handsome; I like it better than OpenOffice and Microsoft Office 2007. I did install it on my daughter's XP notebook computer, and she's happily creating a presentation on the Aztec Indians for her Civilization 12 class. Once I get the time, I'll try to install the Linux version on my dad's notebook computer.
Lotus Symphony 1.0 is a 200MB download from here (after creating an account).
Speed
The primary criticism of the OpenOffice line of software is its slow launch speed. Lotus Symphony launches pretty quickly, though not as fast as Microsoft Office. After that, it's faster. Here is what I have noticed: the Microsoft product might launch faster, but once it is running, it stalls each time a new command is selected. In contrast, Symphony doesn't do that -- so it ends up being faster overall.
Until today, the OpenOffice-based Lotus Symphony software had been in beta. I've been using it on my notebook computer that runs Vista. I'd like to use it on my desktop computer, but it run Windows 2000, and Symphony is limited to the XP and Vista varients of Windows -- as well as several varients of Linux.
The package consists of a word processor, spreadsheet, and PowerPoint-like slide program. The user inteface of Symphony is very handsome; I like it better than OpenOffice and Microsoft Office 2007. I did install it on my daughter's XP notebook computer, and she's happily creating a presentation on the Aztec Indians for her Civilization 12 class. Once I get the time, I'll try to install the Linux version on my dad's notebook computer.
Lotus Symphony 1.0 is a 200MB download from here (after creating an account).
Speed
The primary criticism of the OpenOffice line of software is its slow launch speed. Lotus Symphony launches pretty quickly, though not as fast as Microsoft Office. After that, it's faster. Here is what I have noticed: the Microsoft product might launch faster, but once it is running, it stalls each time a new command is selected. In contrast, Symphony doesn't do that -- so it ends up being faster overall.
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